“It is fantastic to be able to join a Trust that recognises the value of psychological professions”

Hello, my name is Beth and I am a clinical psychologist working within Calderdale Memory Service, at South West Yorkshire Partnership Teaching NHS Foundation Trust.

I am new to my role within the Trust, and thought I would share a little about my pathway to this role as a newly qualified member of staff, and some of my initial reflections.

I first started working for the Trust as an assistant psychologist after completing my undergraduate BSc degree in Psychology. I primarily worked within Barnsley Community Stroke Team and was also able to gain some experience within the Calderdale Adult Learning Disability Specialist Health team and Barnsley Older Adult’s Mental Health team. I thoroughly enjoyed working within these teams, and across a variety of clinical populations and presentations.

I was then successful at obtaining a place at the University of Manchester to complete my Doctoral training in Clinical Psychology. My role as a trainee clinical psychologist was challenging yet rewarding, as I developed my clinical skills, knowledge, experience and competencies to work towards qualification. I undertook a variety of placements, including in mental health teams for adults, children and young people, specialist early intervention in psychosis services, memory assessment and treatment services, inpatient older adult mental health and dementia inpatient units, and paediatric neuropsychology services. Alongside the university teaching and our clinical placements, we also each completed a thesis research project. My thesis focussed on exploring the theoretical understanding and individual experiences of providing informal care to a loved one after they experienced a stroke.

I recently re-joined the Trust in my first qualified clinical psychologist role, and it is wonderful to be back in the Trust! It is fantastic to be able to join a Trust that recognises the value of psychological professions, including clinical psychologists. Furthermore, I am grateful to be part of such a welcoming and supportive multi-disciplinary team, who truly care, respect and make a real difference to all the individuals who they support. My role within the team involves working closely with another clinical psychologist to provide specialist neuropsychological assessment to patients to aid with the diagnosis of dementia and memory problems. I also look forward to developing post-diagnostic support pathways within the service, to enable the team to be able to offer further support to individuals following a dementia diagnosis. It is important to me to be part of a wider Trust-wide network of clinical psychologists working across various older adult services, and to continue to work towards raising the profile of the profession within the Trust, and the unique perspective we can bring to patient care.

As a clinical psychologist, I enjoy the variety of the day-to-day role, in being able to meet and support so many patients, carers and families and to work collaboratively within the wider multi-disciplinary teams to promote the physical, mental and psychological wellbeing of all those we support. I feel proud to be a clinical psychologist and I am very much looking forward to working within the Trust!